PRESS RELEASE
[Embargo 14:00 18/10/2016]
A Call for Action for national governments to implement the
necessary national action to deliver the transformation of urban
mobility set out in the New Urban Agenda
Quito, Ecuador, 18th October 2016
The transport and development community, meeting together in Quito, Ecuador on the occasion
of Habitat III, welcomes the New Urban Agenda´s recognition of the broad contribution of
sustainable urban mobility to sustainable urbanization.
We support the vision for urban mobility set out in the New Urban Agenda - but it now needs to
be implemented.
The transport and development community are organized and ready to play their role to deliver
on the New Urban Agenda´s vision, however, we need national governments throughout the
world to provide the necessary national support and enabling frameworks to stimulate the
transformation of urban mobility.
Concerted and comprehensive action is needed to cope with the additional 2.3 billion people
expected to be living in urban areas by 2050. A rapid expansion and transformation to urban
mobility systems based on walking, cycling and public transport is required. Without a
significant step up in action and support by national governments on urban transport
cities will suffer from growing congestion, road deaths/injuries, air pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.
While much action will be taken at the city level, and by Non State Actors and much financing
will come from international and private sources – however they need national support and
enabling frameworks for urban mobility to catalyze action.
The national policy frameworks will depend on national circumstances and priorities but can
include inter alia: polices, laws, capacity building, expert networks, guidance documents,
delegated powers and financing.
This is a Call for Action from a broad range of transport and development actors to
national governments, to now provide the necessary support and national policy
frameworks to enable cities to deliver the transformation of urban mobility set out in the
New Urban Agenda.
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Quotes from key members of the transport and urban development community:
“Support from national government is the missing link that we need in order to transform urban
mobility at scale. National governments need to step up and deliver the necessary
coordination, leadership and resources to enable cities to create change — and they need to
act now” - Holger Dalkmann, Co-Chair of the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon
Transport and Director, Strategy and Global Policy, EMBARQ Director, WRI Ross Centre
for Sustainable Cities
“We look forward to working with the SLoCaT Partnership to accelerate action on sustainable
urban transport and track the transport relevant components of the New Urban Agenda in the
next years. We will bring parties together to scale up action on transport that addresses both
urban development and climate change issues, particularly in developing and emerging
economies” – Andre Dzikus, Programme Manager, United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-HABITAT)
“Habitat III needs to kick-start a rapid transformation in urban mobility systems and investment
in cities across the world. The multilateral development banks (MDBs) are committed to
supporting investments in sustainable urban mobility, but for projects to be bankable we need
the right national and local policies and plans to be in place, and that will require more technical
assistance for building capacity and scaling up investment project preparation,” - Tyrrell
Duncan, Technical Advisor (Transport), Asian Development Bank and Chairman MDB
Working Group on Sustainable Transport.
“Our new Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) is a very concrete contribution
towards the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. It will help mobilize more than one
billion USD for sustainable mobility in cities, it will work with 1000 urban mobility experts and
support innovative projects world-wide in order to support the mobility transition
(Verkehrswende) in cities around the globe.” - Dr. T. Roediger-Vorwerk Dep. Dir. Gen.
Environment, Infrastructure, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ), Germany
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The Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) is a global multistakeholder partnership of over 90 organizations (representing UN organizations, Multilateral
and Bilateral development organizations, NGOs and Foundations, Academe and the Business
Sector). SLoCaT promotes the integration of sustainable transport in global policies on
sustainable development and climate change in support of its overarching goal to mobilize global
support for sustainable, low carbon transport and thereby reduce the growth of GHG emissions
generated by land transport in developing countries and maximize the contribution of transport
to poverty eradication and sustainable development. For more information, please see:
www.slocat.net
The SLoCaT Partnership has been tracking the Habitat III process and negotiations and has
produced a number of Knowledge Products and reports based on the preparatory events,
Policy Documents and National Reports. In recent months we have provided a “transport”
analysis of the different drafts of the New Urban Agenda and made specific suggestions for
improvements. SLoCaT and its members are also hosting a number of transport events in
Quito. All information is publically available at: http://www.slocat.net/new-urban-agenda
For more information: Cornie Huizenga, SLoCaT, [email protected] +86 139 0194 9332
Background on transport in past UN agreements:
U.N. member states have already unanimously recognized the importance of transport issues on
multiple occasions including:
In the 2012 “The Future We Want”, the outcome document from the major UN Commission on
Sustainable Development Rio+20 summit, governments recognized:
“the importance of the efficient movement of people and goods, and access to environmentally
sound, safe and affordable transportation as a means to improve social equity, health,
resilience of cities.”
“the importance of mixed-use planning and of encouraging non-motorized mobility, including
by promoting pedestrian and cycling infrastructures.”
In September 2015 the UN agreed on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the 15-year global
framework that came into effect in January 2016. Two of the targets for these goals pledge
governments to:
“provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all,
improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the
needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older
persons” by 2030.
And by 2020, they pledge to:
“halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents”.
The most recent major global agreement was struck in December 2015, when U.N. member states
finalized the Paris Agreement on climate change. Delivering on that accord will essentially require the
de-carbonization of urban transport in the coming decades.
Sources for more information:
www.slocat.net
http://www.ppmc-transport.org/
www.adb.org/sectors/transport/overview
http://www.wrirosscities.org/about/embarq-network
www.itdp.org
Transport events at Habitat III
http://www.ppmc-transport.org/sustainable-transport-events-at-habitat-iii/
http://www.ppmc-transport.org/transportdayquito/